Dark Angel
by Darkness is My Savior
Summary: Not a human, not a demon, not even in between. Kotori is the Shadow Angel, the incarnation of good and evil. Her sanity balances on the line between light and dark. Home is burning, spirit's broke, watch the world go up in smoke.
1. The Psychologist

DIMS: Hi, and welcome to my fic!

Yusuke: Another one? Don't you have a life or something?

DIMS: A) It's only my fifth fic, Urameshi. B) This IS my life. Anyway. This started as a psychologist torture scene I wrote when I was annoyed at something. I Forget what.

(11/23/09: Hi, I'm going through and finally changing some stuff to make this chapter what I wanted it to be aka editing it better. Please enjoy this edited and slightly revised edition of Chapter 1)

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_**The Psychologist**_

The dreaded, the clichéd, the horrid...inkblots. "Remember Kotori just say the first thing that comes to mind." He annoyed me. I wanted to rip the flesh from his face and feed it to him. I wanted to burn him at a stake. I wanted to make good use of the torture devices invented during the Inquisition. Those were the good old days. Except for the Jews. And the Moores. Poor them. My thoughts were cut short, fortunately for you, as he held up the first one.

"Blood," was my answer. He gulped before flipping to the next card. It made me want to rip out his throat. "Blood spurting from a recently decapitated demon," I said to the next one. "Me slicing through the demon from the last card, just before he ends up with his head cut off."

Next one. "Me stabbing a demon through the heart."

"Me on top of a pile of bodies licking the blood off my sword." He gulped and sweat trickled down his forehead as he finished writing my answers down.

He wiped his forehead with his sleeve."Next test. We're going to do a bit of roll playing. I annoy you, but don't do anything too mean to you."

I hate role playing. I always get too into it and have too much fun. Oh well. He had asked the question..."I would growl and probably bite them."

Another gulp, but he continued. "I am slightly mean to you, but don't realize it."

"Bitch/Bastard, if you don't shut the hell up and leave me alone, I will rip your intestines from your body and force feed them to you."

He was shaking slightly; I wanted to smirk in amusement. "I hurt one of your friends."

I internally cackled. This would freak him out. And I was only being honest. "I would take a large kitchen knife, tie them up, and proceed to give them the bloodiest, most tortured death possible."

"Next, a quick survey." He was watching me warily as if I would try to kill him at any moment. He is quite perceptive. I will give him a single point for that. That makes is total negative infinity plus one. "What are your likes and dislikes?"

"My likes are people who aren't stupid and are loyal, blood, gore, death, Black, silver, dragons, ramen, and swordplay. My dislikes are Bakas, backstabbers, Acid Rays of Sunshine, the sun, happiness, Barney, yellow, PINK, the Easter bunny, _annoying psychologists_, people who call me an idiot or emo."

"Okay," he said, nervously. He sounded like_ he_ was the one taking the test. "Next question. What are your 5 favorite colors, starting with most favorite?"

"Black." He looked at me expectantly, but gulped and quickly looked away when I glared at him

"What would you do if someone close to you died?"

"I'd go on a killing spree destroying half of the city's population before running away to the center of the Earth." I was getting fed up with the stupid questions. Was leaving me alone in my nice little forest too much to ask. Apparently, so I said, starting in a calm voice, "Now I suggest that you _GO AWAY DR. IDIOT. I HATE IDIOTS_."

The doctor paled considerably and finally broke, running out of the room screaming, "She's a psycho, she a psycho, get someone in there with a strait jacket!" They brought in the jacket and tied me up before I could do anything.

"You bakas think that a stupid strait jacket will do any good against me?" I laughed at their stupidity. I quickly got myself out of the strait jacket. Did they think this was the first time I'd been in one of these? Well, I didn't remember ever being in one, but I somehow _did_ know how to get out....I began to laugh maniacally as I set the entire clinic ablaze with my spirit energy. "Death, blood, destruction," I chanted as I collapsed in exhaustion from using so much of my spirit energy, pleased with the destruction I had caused.

I woke up in a completely white room: white walls, white carpets, white bed, white everything. "At least it's not pink," I muttered to myself, figuring that I'd finally ended up in the loony bin. Just then, everything turned pink. I started screaming at the top of my lungs and bashing the walls with anything I could lift, which, in my case, was the lamp on the nightstand. "DIE YOU EVIL COLOR! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE TURNED BLACK INSTEAD, HUH! WHY? HOW DO YOU EVEN CHANGE COLORS IN THE FIRST PLACE?" As soon as I finished my rant, the walls turned black. "Arigato, wall-san."

I put the lamp back in place on the nightstand and sat in the middle of the floor. "Wish I had some paper and a pencil," I muttered. Paper and pencil appeared right in front of me. "I think I'm gonna like it here. Used to room, in a tomb, where I'd sit and freeze. Get me now, Holy Cow! Could someone, pinch me please." I said, bursting into the song from some movie I'd seen at the orphanage they had been keeping me. Suddenly, I felt a pinch on my arm. "I didn't mean it!" I yelled at the walls, having decided they the cause of everything I asked for coming to me. Then an idea for an experiment came to me, and I grinned evilly. "I wish I had a large kitchen knife." No such luck.

I sighed, but picked up the paper, pencil, and the black lap-desk that had magically appeared next to the paper, and sat on the now black carpet and began to draw. While I have never had the opportunity to do it often, I was very good and it always calmed me to see the pencil glide over the paper and create the images that plagued my mind. When I was finished, I held it out in front of me and nodded approvingly. It was a sword rising out from a pile of bodies. Impaled on the sword, was a human head. That made me hungry.

"Would it be too much trouble to ask for a bowl of ramen and a fork?" I said politely. The food appeared on the nightstand and I devoured it as if I hadn't eaten in days. It smelled absolutely delicious, mouthwatering, even. It was the first relatively non-healthy thing I had eaten since those weirdos picked me up, and if you forgot about that, it was also the first real hot meal I'd had in months. I loved ramen...

Once I was finished, I attempted to singe the edges of my drawing, as was part of my distinct style, but nothing happened. I tried, but my spirit energy would not come to me. I could feel it move towards the points on my body where I was able to channel it, but it stopped around halfway there. I rolled up the sleeve of my black turtleneck, the only good thing that had come from the orphanage, to find wards on my upper arm. I reached out to pull them off, snarling when it gave off an electric charge, singeing my hand. I looked at the wall and glared. Damn them...

In Koenma's office.

"She's really weird," Yusuke said, after watching her for about 15 minutes (from the point she woke up, to the point we left her at).

"If you think that's weird Yusuke, take a look at the reason the SDF had to retrieve her," Koenma said solemnly. He popped in the tape from the psychologist episode.

"Woah," was all Yusuke could say as he watched her set the building aflame and collapse and the tape ended.

"Now you understand why we had to bring her here? She is a danger to all of human society. She is not, however, insane.

"Orphaned at birth, her name is Kotori. She was born in the streets, no father, mother died in childbirth. She was fortunate enough to be taken in by another alley family, but ran away when she was three. Extremely intelligent and could probably match Kurama in school, if she ever went to one. Never experiencing love of a family, she turned to violence for comfort. She actually does take pleasure in destruction and pain, but for those few people who are her friends, she is terribly loyal and would come die for, then come back to life to continue to protect. She has little or no conscience. When she was about five, her home was the forest. It was cold, living in the forest in winter and she was rubbing sticks together, trying to get a fire going. When they would not light, she simply glared at the sticks, and they roared to life. Since then she has lived mostly on her own. Recently, she was found by child welfare, thus the trip to the psychologist.

"We do not have much solid information on her, as there is a disruptive spirit energy around her that makes it almost impossible to track her or for our scouts to send images to us, but we also suspect her to be a Shadow Angel. If that is the case, then we are dealing with a very dangerous person who we have neither the ability nor the right to detain. The plan is to try and get her to trust us and perhaps join the detectives so that we can monitor and try to control her to some degree.

"If she is not a Shadow Angel, we will simply keep her in therapy here until she stabilizes. She's too dangerous to put back into the human world."

"Oh," Kuwabara said. He had much to think about, and yes, to all of you Kuwabara haters, he can think. I have a whole list written of reasons that you should be grateful for Kuwabara.

"So what are we going to do with her? She really will go crazy if she's cooped up here too long," Yusuke said, frowning concernedly at the viewscreen that once again showed the dark haired girl.

"First we have to get on speaking terms with her. She's not one to trust to easily. The only reason she even ate that ramen is because she couldn't detect any poison in it. She does have a sharp sixth sense and lying around her is pointless, it will only make her angry, which is not advisable. What records we do have on her shows she gets very violent towards liars and has little tolerance for people who use deception. Once we accomplish that, we'll see what happens," Koenma said in one very large breath. "George will lead you to her room."

As they stepped through the sliding doors, the first thing that they noticed on the black walls were the numerous gory drawings, including the one they had watched her draw earlier, one of a raven perched on a human skull, blood dripping off a sword, a heart with an arrow through it, and others besides. She was sitting, her lilac eyes staring emotionlessly at them. "Hello, do you like the drawings?" she said in a quiet voice, void of all emotion.

Forgetting Koenma's warning, and not wanting to anger the girl, Yusuke said, "Yes."

She blinked and her eyes flicked to Yusuke. "You shouldn't lie to me. It's obvious that you do not like them, and lying will only make me want to find some weapon of minor destruction and use it to try and kill you, although from what I can sense, that would be rather foolhardy, seeing as you and the three behind you are incredibly strong, and even if I did manage to kill you, there would be the other three to deal with.

"Also, since I am unable to remove these cursed wards, the best that I could do is throw silverware and furniture at you, along with karate, although I'm sure that that would be little use against demons." As she said the last part, her eyes shifted to Kurama and Hiei, who stood behind the two humans.

The other two (Yusuke and Kuwabara) stared at her. "Please don't do that, I dislike people staring at me." They stopped staring. "Which hospital is this? I want to send a letter to whichever department is in charge of loony bins on what wonderful accommodations you have. Never heard of one where the walls change color." She stared off into space as she trailed off.

Kurama cleared his throat to get her attention and said, "Miss Kotori, you are not in any 'loony bin' as you call them. You are in Spirit World. You had to be apprehended because your little performance at the psychologist's office has labeled you as a threat to the human race."

She smiled at him, the first smile they had seen on her face, and it made a huge difference. Until then she had either kept an emotionless face or a scowl, never showing any hint of happiness, and the unexpected smile lit up her whole face. Kuwabara almost thought, in that instant, that she was cute. "You're honest. It's refreshing. You don't realize just how much people lie. That they care about you, that love exists. It doesn't, and no one cares about you but you and those few loyal people who don't lie, ne?"

None of them said anything until Hiei spoke up. "I think I like this girl."

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DIMS: Kotori is Japanese for little bird.

Kotori: (glares) Review or die.

_DIMS: Awesome update 11/23/09 has been completed. I added a lot of stuff. More than I thought I would. It took me two days to get this done. I edited some sentences that didn't make sense, and I added a lot more of Kotori's thoughts since this is the first person and it would be a waste otherwise. I hope you enjoyed this revised edition of Dark Angel: Chapter 1, The Psychologist._


	2. Dark Angel

DIMS: Yay!!!! This stories got five reivews from the first chapter alone!!! (gets depressed) I hope this lives up to their expectations

Kotori: (rolls eyes) does it matter what people think

DIMS: Right. You introduce the chapter, I'm going to blow something up in a painful and slow manner

Kotori: smirks. That's the Dark I know and don't hate

CHPT 2!!!!!

The Shadow Angel

That was all it took to get Kuwabara to be frightened of this girl, Hiei liking her. She smiled again, showing off her crooked teeth that were badly in need of braces. "I don't think anyone's said it and even half meant it since I was four. Then they betrayed me and I killed them," she said, staring off into space.

By this time, Yusuke was thoroughly creeped out, but unlike Kuwabara, he wasn't quaking in his boots. Her eyes, blank as those of a blind person turned on him. "You're very brave. I haven't met anyone as brave as you…ever. You're really willing to risk it all for these three, aren't you?" She laughed when edge a little closer to the door. "I know it's true, I looked into your soul, the eyes are the window to the soul. Whether you are crafty," she said glancing at Kurama, "Brave, tough, but at the same time kind, yet trying to hide it from others," this part her gaze lingered on Yusuke. "Someone who tries his best whether or not he actually achieves anything," she looked in Kuwabara's direction. "Or someone with a sad past who hates everyone around them." She did not look at anyone, but at her own hands, as if remembering the blood that had stained them. "Then again, windows are not always accurate, there are always things that cannot be seen, like a punk running into the street to save a child." She smirked at the dumbfounded look on Kuwabara's face. "Not only can my sixth sense detect lies, but I can look inside your mostly empty head to find the truth."

Kuwabara scowled at her, but did not yell A: because she had the potential to kill him if he got her mad, and B: it went against his code. "You have a code? Doesn't quite seem your style Kuwabara," she said with a smirk. "How did you…" She tapped her temple with two fingers. "I read your head dufus. Anata wa baka ningen desu (1)." Kuwabara's eye began to twitch. "You look funny when you do that," she commented absent-mindedly. She closed her eyes as if thinking. "You are here to get me to trust you so that your boss, Koenma, will be able to use me as some sort of idiotic police agent. Your name is Yusuke, yours is Kurama, and yours is Hiei. Don't waste energy in trying to put up mental walls. There hasn't been one yet I haven't been able to get through. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap."

She fell back on the bed, her head hitting the pillow with a soft thump. She was asleep before she landed. The boys quietly walked out of the room. After about five minutes of walking, Yusuke crossed his arms over his chest and said, "She's…weird." 'Probably insane,' he added in his head.

_I may be weird, but I'm not insane spirit detective._

"Gah!" Yusuke yelled as the voice entered his head and he started yelling at thin air. "Ok, you can read minds and you creep us out, but could you at least keep quiet. It's creepy!" Kuwabara had no clue what he was talking about, Kurama thought he knew, and Hiei didn't really care.

They all heard the soft chuckle as she infiltrated their minds.

_No, I'd rather stay with you guys and watch what happens next. Watch and wait_. She began humming to herself a strange song they had never heard of. _Que Que natora, you will understand._ Then she began to mutter something about stealing gold and jewels.

Kurama smiled to himself at her comments. _Gonna rob these guys blind afore they even notice I'm gone._

_I wouldn't try that; you can even get through the door_.

"Oh yeah?" a voice said from behind him. There she stood, hands clasped behind her back, looking for all the world like an innocent child.

"How did you do that?" he asked, slightly stunned.

"Simple. Rather than trying to remove the wards manually, I just rubbed up against the bedpost 'til they fell off. Then I just burned through the doors and followed the energy signal. Kurama gave a small smile and nodded, while Hiei gave a smirk of approval. The other two just stared. In an instant, her devilish smile and clever eyes turned to daggers and a snarl as she death glared the two boys. In a quiet, cold, deathly calm voice she said, "How many times do I have to tell you I don't like to be stared at?" They gulped and backed away. "Now that that's been taken care of, let's get to Koenma. I'd like to meet this 'toddler breath' face to face."

They continued walking, Kurama and Hiei in front, followed by Kotori, Yusuke and Kuwabara behind her. They pushed open the doors to Koenma's office.

She stepped through, generally unimpressed by the huge doors and room. "Kotori, welcome. I assume you have agreed to become one of my spirit detectives."

She stepped towards Koenma's desk. "You assumed wrong baby breath. I won't join your stupid detective force. I've lived on my own without anyone to help me, why should I do anything for anyone now. What do I owe anyone?"

Koenma sighed and looked up at her almost sadly. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this. Kotori, if you don't join my detectives, I will remove your wings, it's your choice."

Her eyes widened. 'My…my wings…He wouldn't dare!' She glared icily at the small prince, but remained silence.

"Wings?" Kuwabara questioned, clueless as ever. She hung her head

"She's a shadow angel," he turned to Kotori, "aren't you." She didn't respond. "Show them your wings," he commanded.

Her head snapped up to glare once more at the child-like ruler of Spirit World. "No," she said in a deadly cold voice. "I will join your detectives you dirty son of a snake, but my form is a secret I will keep.

"Very well. George, take her to her room."

"Yes Koenma sir," said the blue ogre.

The boys hear murderous thoughts as she left. Most of which were extremely painful forms of murder including: Dipping him in acid, stabbing him, putting salt in the wounds then stabbing him more, etc., forcing him to eat himself, ripping out his intestines and force feeding them to him, and crucifying him, among many others. Most of this was accompanied by profanities, such as "Damn bastard of a baby" "That shit head will pay for this," and a few in languages no one had ever heard of that I cannot translate because they would have to be censored out.

Her new room was very different than the old one. For one thing, the bed was more comfortable, and it was huge. In one corner, there was a modest CD player radio and a collection of CDs. These included Simple Plan, Linkin Park, Nickleback, and a lot more. Next to it was a box full of art supplies.

The bed was twin size, black covers with a black canopy. Her drawings sat in a pile on the table. The other three quarters of the room was covered with training apparatus, targets, dummies, several different kinds of weapons, etc. This part of the room was separated from the living quarters by a sliding wall. To her delight, on the living side of the room, there was a large window overlooking a forest. From there she could see Spirit World's mountains. There was a sticky note attached to the window.

Kotori, you have permission to roam freely as long as you wear the communicator watch on the table.

She glared at the note and it burst into flames in her hand. 'How dare he think he can regulate what I do and do not!' Still snarling at the door, she proceeded to strap the black digital watch to her wrist.

She looked over at the training dummies and grinned like a devil as an idea sparked in her head.

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(1): You are a baka ningen

DIMS: has blood all over her

Yusuke: what happened to you?

Kotori: she blew people up, what does it look like, spirit detective?

Yusuke: like she either got beat up or she killed someone.

DIMS: (attacks Yusuke)

Kotori: (smirks) never suggest she might have lost, or you might lose your limbs

DIMS: (pauses) speaking of which

DIMS& Kotori: (glare) review or die.


	3. Fire, Hell, Heaven, and Angels

A/N I changed a few details in this chapter

A/N I changed a few details in this chapter. Originally, Shadow Angel's were born only once every 1000 years. I decreased it to every 100 years. Thank you

Kotori smirked at her handiwork. Training dummy+paint equals life-sized Koenma dummy. She had spent an hour working on the doll, and it looked exactly like the pint-sized ruler, complete with pacifier. There it hung, nailed to the tree for every one to see.

Drip…drip… A brownish colored liquid dripped from the straw figure. You guessed it! Lighter fluid!! Lighter fluid soaked dummy+person with flame powers… She held up her hand and snapped her fingers, grinning like the Devil's second in command.

The first to pass by was Hiei. Koenma had ordered him to follow the girl. Grumbling, he had gone to her room and had instantly seen the open window. Jumping swiftly through it, he tracked her with his jagan.

He came across her just as the doll burst into flames. The heat was so intense he could feel it from his perch on a tree branch nearly thirty feet away. She, however, who was standing only four feet away, did not seem bothered by it at all. She sat back against a tree and closed her eyes as the flames began to consume the tree.

Next came Kurama. He was looking for Kotori as well. He wanted to see how much information he could get her to reveal about Shadow Angels, about which he knew nothing (shocking, isn't it.) When he came across our little clearing, he saw the burning tree and Kotori sleeping a few feet away. He glanced up at Hiei, who was sitting on a branch several feet above him. "Don't you think it's a little dangerous for her to be sleeping that close to an open fire?" He asked his red-eyed companion.

The fire demon simply grunted. Kurama, humoring his friend, leaned against the tree below him and pulled out a book.

Last came Yusuke and Kuwabara. Koenma, worried that three of the strongest beings in the three worlds hand gone missing, had sent the two boys to find him. Finding them quickly with Kuwabara's sense, the found Several burning trees—the fire had spread—Kotori sitting near the ever growing fire, and Kurama and Hiei sitting next to/in the trees opposite from Kotori. "Um, guys, don't you think it would be a good idea to get the sleeping girl away from the fire?" Yusuke asked. Kurama glanced up from his book but said nothing and Hiei grunted. Deciding not to take any initiative, and trusting Hiei could do something if the situation turned for the worse, they sat down as well.

Moments later, Koenma, in his teen form, popped into the clearing. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU!!" Then he looked over to Kotori. "WHY HAVEN'T YOU MOVED HER AWAY FROM THE FIRE, DO YOU WANT HER TO GET KILLED!!"

"Koenma, the situation is perfectly under control. We are simply observing." Kurama said, never looking up from the page. CRACK! A flaming tree fell over and cut them off from Kotori. She was completely surrounded by a thirty-foot wall of flame, the circle ever tightening, ready to take it's sleeping victim. Hiei jumped from his perch, ready to intervene if necessary. Just then, a shadowed figure could be seen walking through the flames.

The flames reflected in Kotori's purple eyes as she stepped from the fire. She tossed what could barely be identified as the charred remains of the Koenma doll to the toddler like prince. "Merry Christmas," she said venomously as she walked past the prince. 'Adios, amigos.' The thought flitted across the four tanteis' minds as she leapt into the trees towards the River Styx.

Koenma turned to them, fury, no, pure rage in his face. Even Yusuke was slightly afraid of the small prince now. In a few moments, Koenma calmed himself, though his face was still red as a beet. "Do you realize what would have happened if she had died?" he said, almost succeeding in controlling his temper. "The entire world would have been destroyed. She is THE shadow angel, the embodiment of the balance of Yin and Yang. Only one is born every hundred years, so I suggest you keep her alive." With that, he left them to think about what he had just said.

She sat on the edge of the Sanzu River, watching the ferry girls as they guided each spirit to its rightful place. She saw the sad faces of the girls and the screams of their passengers as they flew into the pit known as hell. She was sitting right on the edge of hell, feeling the comforting warmth of its flame, inviting her, welcoming her. Shadow angels have very strong bonds with hell. They have tragic pasts and are shunned, usually leaving them with little or no faith in God or heaven. Hell is where the first Shadow Angel was created. She was a daughter of the Devil himself, but, as part of a treaty between heaven and hell, she became the keeper of light and darkness, of good and evil, of hope, and of despair. The Shadow Angels soon became necessary parts in the balance, destroying human evil when too much of it manifested, and making sure that it survived by keeping times of peace short. Without evil, there cannot be good, and without good, there cannot be evil. Without good and evil, there is nothing.

Now, ever thousand years, the next daughter of the First Shadow Angel in line is born into a human body, their memories locked away until the time is right.

She wanted to go, to see who she knew instinctively to be her grandfather, even if she had few memories of her true family, and those were blurred. But she could not. The Shadow Angle must not enter heaven or hell until her term is over or she dies. She had tried, a purple barrier had prevented her from coming within three feet of the edge She took the message and stuffed it into the bottle, which she had charmed to go straight to her grandfather.

_Grandfather,_

_I don't remember much about you, yet I know it is you. I sit here in Spirit World as time ticks by as if it were moving backwards. I don't know why I'm here, or what my purpose in life is. I have questions that I know I won't have answered. _

_Kotori_

She threw the bottle in to the pit before continuing to listen to the chorus of the damned.

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DIMS: And that's chapter three. Lotsa important stuff, ne?

Era (Twin sister): Also, we can't name who, because that might count as a review reply and we might get booted off, but we wholeheartedly agree with the person who said, "DEATH AND DESTRUCTION TO ALL!"

Kotori: Review or Die


	4. Eden's Angel

Dims: Hi! I'm alive and well. This chapter is a bit short, but since I haven't posted any chapters recently, I thought I'd give you something to entertain yourselfves until I write the second half of this chapter.

Disclaimer: To add to the heart crushing truth that i do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, I don't own boulevard of broken dreams.

She sat there, in her room. It had been nearly a day since the burning of the Koenma doll and she had fallen into a rut of silence and depression. Hiei watched her, by orders of Koenma through the large window. She seemed not to notice him. She sat in the corner next to the CD player and put in a disk, flipping to the right track and putting on the headphones. Her bangs framed her face as she sat on the top step of a small step stool, her knees close to her body, her elbows resting on her knees with her hands hanging limply between. She mouthed the words.

I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known, don't know where it goes but it's home to me as I walk alone

_I walk this empty street on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams where the city sleeps and I'm the only one and I walk alone_.

Her eyes were shadowed, but he noticed that they were flickering between their normal violet color, and a darker, brighter purple that, although her face was sad, held some sort of gleeful malevolence in them. Then she closed them, her fist clenched at her sides.

My shadow's only one that walks beside me

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating_

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me_

_Until then I walk alone_

Her expression held her general anger with the world. Entering her mind, he saw visions flashing by. Koenma burning seemed to be the dominant one, but other images quickly came. A woman beating her in an alley when she was barely three, a mob running after her seven year old form with broken bottles and gardening tools, people closing their doors to her as she begged for shelter in a blizzard. Suddenly, everything froze on the image of a girl with green eyes and blond hair. As if the image were paper, it slowly began to burn with a black flame that, unlike his, was pure black. He quickly exited her mind.

She stirred and looked him right in the eyes. She slowly took off the headphones and walked over to the window. She opened it and, still looking him in the eyes, said, "Her name was Serenity."

He blinked and blurred out of view. Her eyes still flickered, but now, neither color held any emotion.

She had stayed in her room for a few more hours, just staring out the window, before she came down the stairs, her face blank.

She grabbed an apple and took a small bite. In the time that she had stayed with them, it seemed that the only thing she ate were apples.

"Why do you like apples so much, Kotori?" Kurama asked politely, hoping to get her in a better mood.

"They are representative of the fruit of knowledge that Adam and Eve ate, causing them to be expelled from the Garden of Eden. My job is to not only maintain the balance of good and evil, but also to prevent anyone from ever finding the Garden."

"Oh," Kurama said, killing off the conversation. She finished the apple. She tossed the core into the trash—POOF!—Koenma appeared in a puff of smoke behind her. The first thing they saw when the smoke cleared was Kotori, glaring at Koenma, her hand around his throat.

Dims: thanks for reading

Kotori: review or die

Reader: You've been saying that for the past four chapters! I've never reviewed, and I'm still alive

Kotori: We'll just have to correct that now, won't we

Dims: Yes, we shall


	5. Memories

Dims: Find my happy place.

Kotori: Ezeroth Fitz aka Insert Manaical Laugher is excluded from this rant (though I wil continue to call them Ezeroth Fitz unless they tell me not to)

Dims: Okay...I'll take the hint. My stories suck. BUT COULD YALL AT LEAST REVIEW AND TELL ME THAT TO MY FACE...well, more like my computer screan. Know what? NOT THE POINT. THERE WAS **ONE **REVIEW ON THE LAST CHAPTER

Kotori: Thanks to Ezeroth Fitz

Dims: AND THERE WAS **ONE** REVIEW ON THE LAST CHAPTER I POSTED IN THE FORBIDDEN, AND COME TO THINK OF IT, THE LAST CHAPTER OF DEATH BY PROPHECY TOO!

Kotori: Once again thanks to Ezeroth Fitz

Dims: So go to heck, but I will continue to write to spite the Devil and everyone else who hates me

Era: (hits her over the back of the head) Please enjoy the chapter (eyes glow red plus creepy grin)

Kotori: For those of you who don't read the stuff at the bottom: Review or DIE

Dims: (shoots up) DIE!

Dedicated to: Ezeroth Fitz

* * *

Her eyes bore into his, glowing a malevolent purple color that he had never seen before

Her eyes bore into his, glowing a malevolent purple color that he had never seen before. He gulped as best she good with her hand around his throat. His face was starting to turn blue when she snarled slightly and let go of him. Kurama had a small blade pressed to the back of her neck. Her eyes flickered once more and her face regained the blank, eerie composure that she had when she met them. Kurama removed the blade.

"I see you still don't trust me, Kurama." To anyone looking carefully, they would have seen her eyes flicker that deep purple for a split second. In that split second, if you were looking carefully, you might have seen the rage and hurt. But then again, very few people look carefully.

"If you want to earn our trust, Kotori, then I suggest you do not kill our employer."

She got a strange look on her face, and then vanished. No poof or cloud of darkness, just gone.

"She's weird…" Yusuke commented

* * *

Her eyes, their normal light violet color, stared once more into the pit of the damned. There was absolutely no expression on her face. The more she listened, the less vague her few original memories became.

_There were two girls with her, one much taller, the other a bit shorter than she. _

_She and the younger girl were crying._

_"Don't go, ane(1)!" Kotori cried. She appeared to be about eleven._

_The older girl crouched next to the two smaller children. Here eyes were the same shade of purple as her sisters, but her hair was the color of snow. "Kotori, Koneko(2), you know I have to go, just as you will, in time." She hugged them both, then stepped through a glowing white portal. _

Kotori was shaken from her daze by a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Kurama.

"Time t'see what yer made of, kid," Yusuke said with a grin. "We've got a case."

She looked once more to the pit, then followed the four detectives to the place where they could open a portal to the demon world.

* * *

_"Damn that little bastard,"_ she thought viciously. They had been trudging toward the location of their assignment for the past two days. Those two days had taken their toll on her mind. Two days of monotonous marching with little worry about survival (she was with the winners of the Dark Tournament after all) gave any person a lot of time to think. That memory kept replaying in her head.

_"Koneko…"_ It was the only word she had thought in the past hour. She kept picturing the girl quite clearly. She too had light violet eyes, but her hair was a deep purple, almost black color. She wanted to make sure she remembered her little sister. Then there was the matter of the older girl. She knew she had been a sister as well. Kotori had called her ane, so she was definitely older….Kotori racked her brains but for the life of her could not get her name.

"Kotori!" She blinked as she noticed a hand waving in front of her face, which she promptly bit. After a short spell of screaming and running around, she let go of Kuwabara's hand and spat.

"You taste bad." She pulled a spare apple from her pack and bit into it.

"Kotori, we've been trying to get your attention for a while now. We're almost there."

She nodded solemnly and they continued.

She thought back to two days ago.

_"Okay, here's what you've got to do, Botan said cheerfully. "There is a demon slave market that reikai wants shut down. They collect the rarest groups of demons and sell them at high prices as slaves, or worse. They've also got a wide selection of rare children. Among the groups they've got are water, earth, raven, darkness, and light. We've got to stop them or else some of these groups will go extinct, which could destroy the balance in Makai." Over the whole briefing, her tone had gone from cheery to serious. "Understand?" She said. The whole group nodded and leapt into the portal._

Kotori made a note that it was a swirl of purple rather than the white that her sister had used.

Kotori looked up and saw the dark stone towers of a castle looming above her. She bit into her apple. And her eyes flickered purple.

* * *

Dims: (still unconcious)

Era: Thankyou for reading this chapter.

Mara: Special thanks to Ezeroth Fitz

Twin Muses: Super special thanks to the other reviewers(don't have time to name you few)

Dims: Luv yall

All 5 of us: (glares) Review or Die!

Notes:

(1) Older sister, humble

(2) Kitten

This is according to an online translator. Feel free to correct


	6. Kumori Mitsukai

Dims: is bouncing off the walls

Mara: Dims.

Dims: still bouncing

Era: Dims...

Dims: bouncy bouncy

Kotori: Dims!

Dims: BOUNCY!

Yusuke: DIMS!

Dims: what?

Yusuke: Why are you so freakin' hyper!

Dims: Oh.. that. Well, the last chapter off this story got 4 reviews...FOUR!

Kotori: That's just sad...

Dims: It's better than the ONE (glares at readers) that chapter four got.

Era: Speaking of which, You guys are still in soooooooooooooooooooo much trouble for that!

DIMS: Okay, I'm going to be serious for a minute here, I nearly cancelled this story because I was so pissed at you guys. You want me to write, then review. At this point, I don't care if it's just a "Nice," or "I hated it." Just give me some effing feed back. Anonymous reviews are welcomed (Anonymous reviewers, your reviews to chapter five will be replied to at the bottom

Dedicated to: (looks at list of "peeps to thank") Mary, Jasmine, Ezeroth (Cast and Crew of DA: CHEER), and Engraved-Angel

* * *

She growled at the plan. Why her? Why couldn't one of those bastards be the slave. She was to be a slave they were going to sell. They would trade her in and she would set up a jail break. At her signal, they others would attack, creating a diversion. It was a good plan, but still…why her?

Her hands were ties behind her with a bit of rope, Kurama had taken her backpack.

"Welcome gentlemen!" hissed a scaly greenish gray demon. "What can I do for you?"

"We have an item of value," Hiei said with a smirk and a jerk of his thumb in Kotori's direction. She growled.

"She's got a spirit to her eh?" The man looked excited. She wanted to rip his throat out.

"She did give us a bit of trouble," said the tall, silver fox. Kurama's voice was deep and gravelly, chilling.

"Follow me and we'll have her appraised"

She could tell that Yusuke and Kuwabara could barely contain their fury at her treatment. Though they did not fully trust her, they cared enough about her to want her treated like a person.

_Stay calm, keep you cool, and we'll be home in no time. Mess this up and I'll have you home on the express. _She added a mental growl to the threat.

They entered a grimy room. In a corner there was an ancient demon, his robes dirty and tattered, his skin gray and wrinkled.

"Inzentoshite(1), we have another one for your appraisal."

The old man looked her over, up and down. His eyes lingered in places inappropriate for his old age.

"Strong, beautiful. She'd make a good bed warmer."

She growled

He chuckled. "Feisty too." He looked to the scaly demon. "Let me see her eyes, Ozomashii.(2)"

Ozomashii dragged her over to the old demon. He took her chin and roughly forced him too look into the old man's eyes."

Inzentoshite stared into her eyes as if looking into her soul. She kept calm staring back with the same, composed calm as she had when she had first met the four detectives. Her eyes flickered.

His eyes widened in shock before he chuckled. "Gentleman, you have truly found a gem. The one and only Kumori Mitsukai(3) of the century(4)."

"Kumori Mitsukai?" Hiei said, feigning surprise. The very back of her mind noted that he was an amazing actor.

"Yes, the Shadow Angel. Only one of these is born per century. This one," he jerked her chin towards the four boys, "hasn't quite reached maturity yet. But in time, she'll make a good asset. Are you sure you want to sell her?"

"She's not worth the trouble," Hiei said, sneering at her. Okay, acting skills aside, he was an ass.

She growled and lunged at Hiei. Ozomashii jerked her back. He still had a tight grip on the cord binding her arms.

"How much is she worth, Inzen?"

The old man looked at her intently. "500,000 Ishi (5) at the least," He said finally.

He reached under the desk as Ozomashii led her away.

The last thing she saw of them was the worry and rage in Yusuke's eyes

* * *

The room she was led to was dank and grimy. The children's ward.

They had replaced her rope restraints with more conventional metal cuffs. Titanium. She wouldn't be able to break those without…She stopped thinking at that moment, not wanting to think about it, in case it overtook her. They threw her into the corner of the room on top of a dozen other cowering children.

Ozomashii called for another man. He was blond, pale skinned and with blue eyes. The wards tattooed onto his arms and legs showed him to be a slave as well.

His eyes scanned the group for a moment before he found Kotori. He gestured for her to come to him. She stood up carefully and took small steps. The chains around her legs restricted her movements to small, sliding steps.

He sat on the ground, away from the group and motioned for her to do the same. She did so very carefully. "Hello, my name is Shimaru (6). What are you called?"

She hesitated, staring straight into his eyes with the same deceptive calm as that first day. She was reading his soul

That is one of the many things that a Shadow Angel can do. They can look through your eyes and straight into your soul.

All she saw was a kind man with good will and bad luck.

"My name is Kotori."

* * *

Dims: Short, yes. More to come, yes. Lotsa notes, yes

(1)Inzentoshite means "As of old" I named him this because he knows the old stories, like those of the Kumori Mitsukai or Shadow Angel

(2) Ozomashii means disgusting

(3)Kumori means Shadow, Mitsukai means Angel

(4)I went back and made a change to chapter three, Fire, Hell, Heaven and Angels. Originally, One Shadow Angel was born every 1,000 years. I changed it to every 100 years.

(5) Ishi means stone. I was feeling uncreative when it came to a name for demon world currency. 500,000 is a lot. Her file is in the Super Amazingly Rare file drawer in the slave market, along with two others. A lightning demon named Tenka (fire caused by lightening) and an ice demon named Itetsuku (to freeze) I think (THINK) we will meet these characters later in the story. I haven't quite planned out minor details like that yet.

(6) Shimaru means "to be locked" named because i like the sound, think the name itself fits, and because he was locked up.

Review replies

Mary: Thank you for picking up my story. I don't mind if you don't jump on the updates so long as you read them and review. The stranger the better, so says I. Thank you, reviewer!

Jasmine:I shall not kill you for the faults of your computer. Please refraid from using the word "retarded" in reviews however. I have a younger brother who has neurological issues and the word is major league taboo in my family. Thank you for your encouragement. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Dark Angel

Cast and Crew of Dark Angel: BYE!

Me and my panel of muses: REVIEW OR DIE!


	7. Slave Life Sucks

DIMS: Hey guys! I'm still alive. Sorry if it seems like I've abandoned my other stories, but I really have a plot set out for this one at the moment, which is more than I can say for the others.

Era: We do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Mara: We do, however, own the Shadow Angel concept, the OCs that you shall meet, Kotori, and the plot line.

Kotori: (glares) They don't own me. I am a free person of my own will!

Mara: Says the character who is a slave in this chapter

Era: Break it up, you two!

DIMS: We would like to dedicate this chapter to: Engraved Angel and...Ezeroth!!

DA cast and crew: Cheer!!

We hope you enjoy this DIMS presentation.

* * *

Life as a slave…sucked. They were more careful with the girls, but she was forced, day after day to see the boys come in with whip marks. For most males, training here was all about strength. The stronger they are, the more money they would be worth at the upcoming auction. It was especially hard to watch the boy Tenka(1), a lightning demon about her age. He was strong willed and always came back heavily injured. She did what she could for him, but the wards limited her strength.

A female's training was much different. Though they shared protocol and behavioral training with the males, they were taken aside for "classes" in erotic dancing and how to dress to please a perverted master. It made her sick when she was forced to dance naked in front of the "instructor", a woman named Junsei(2).

Only two people treated them kindly: the man Shimaru, whom she had spoken with on the first day, and an ice demon, Itetsuku(3). Itetsuku was about 17. He had been captured after saving Tenka from a group of A class demons. His hair was spiky and white and his eyes were a deep blue. He was of moderate height and build. 'He is almost as strong as when…' She deliberately stopped thinking at that point. If she didn't think about it, it wouldn't happen.

Her rage continued to grow. Each time she felt it at the surface, she closed her eyes and thought of Serenity. The instant the girl's name entered her head, there was nothing in her but the same shallowness that she had shown the boys the first day she had met them the same vacant expression. It allowed her to be somewhat less aware of her awful living conditions.

'Only one more day. Then 'tsuku will have gotten the message around in his ward, and Shimaru in his. The children are already prepared. If we do it during the auction, it will be all the more chaotic.'

She looked over to where Tenka was nursing his wounds. His hair was short, brown and messy. His eyes were the gray of the storm clouds above the angry sea, a beautiful mix of blue and gray. He wore a tattered pair of pants, stopping around his knees. They did not permit the slaves to wear shirts, allowing her a view of the awful scars on his back and chest. She blinked solemnly and went back to her thoughts.

The sheets on her bed were grimy and the pillow empty, the frame rusty and creaky, but it was better than sleeping on the floor. She sat there as she thought about the breakout.

It was then that Shimaru managed to walk over to her without looking suspicious. He looked angry, though it was an act. It would look as though he were reprimanding her.

"It is done, Kotori. Itetsuku and I have been able to spread the message throughout our groups. It can be done tomorrow, when your friends come," he whispered.

"Yes, Shimaru, it will be done."

He left her to her brooding.

* * *

Today was the day. The day of the auction. Her hands were bound so tightly in front of her that she could hardly move them. She growled as she was lead onto the stage. Why did she feel like something was about to go wrong?

* * *

The four boys stood in the back of the room. A small stage and a catwalk had been erected just inside the large castle. Hopefully, Kotori would have finished by now and they would be able to move onto step 2: massacring these bastards.

The scaly-ass who had greeted them stood with a microphone on the stage.

"Welcome, gentlemen! Today is the monthly auction. We start with the children. Male slaves! Number one, step out!"

A boy about Kotori's age was pushed out from behind the curtain. He had messy brown hair and dark eyes with a body covered in scars. He walked down the catwalk, stopped for a moment, so that all could see him, and then turned and walked back up to the stage.

"This boy, Tenka, is a rare lightning demon. Strong of body and headstrong, he needs firm discipline. Any bids?!" The boy glared out at the bidders called out high numbers of ishi. After a few minutes, the highest bid was reached and the boy's new owner came to collect him. Tenka followed the bright red demon after he tugged hard on the chain. His glare never ceased.

The next boy's skin had a bluish tint to it. He was small with round, bubble like features and black eyes. His hair was black and stopped at his earlobes, his eyes slanted upwards. He went for a high price as well, though it was very low considered Tenka's price. Water demons are rare, but not as rare as lightning.

More boys came onto the stage and followed the same pattern. Most were bought, but a small fire demon with pale skin and dark red hair got absolutely no bids. He was muscled more leanly than Tenka, and did not have the strange, round features that made the water demon appealing as a house servant. His short hair looked as though it had dried blood in it. He was kicked behind the curtain with a yelp. Hiei thought he heard a growl from behind the curtain on the other side of the stage, but he wasn't sure.

"And now, the females!" Ozomashii announced.

The first female that came out was a hawk demon with long chestnut hair, a beaked face, and large wings. She was dressed scantily, wearing only a thong. She followed the same pattern as the males, but at the end of the catwalk, she performed a short dance, showing off her curves. It earned her a chorus of wolf whistles. She was bought quickly for an average price. Several others came onto the stage, a pale blond girl with blue eyes, a dark girl with wolf ears. The boys were getting antsy, shifting from foot to foot as they waited for Kotori's signal.

* * *

I growled as they pushed Okibi(4) behind the curtain. He was more leanly muscled, but he was physically just as strong as Tenka. Then he announced that it was the females' turn and I growled all the more as Lena, a hawk demon, was pushed onto the stage.

Finally it was my turn. I was the last of the females. Ozomashii wanted to put on a little show.

* * *

Kotori stepped onto the stage. She too was clothed in nothing but a thong. The boys could see that she was flat chested still. Her black hair was pulled out of its usual low position into a high ponytail. There was a glare on her face that could have killed death itself. The light color of her eyes, usually associated with gentle lavender or chamomile could now be compared to poison. When she reached the end of the catwalk, she simply turned, rather than dancing. Yusuke's eyes widened. Ragged scars ran down her back, as if from a broken piece of glass, like a bottle. After completing the turn, she stayed at the end as she had been instructed.

"Kotori, age twelve, is the rarest creature we have today. She is strong and will be amazingly powerful once she reaches maturity according to the legends about her race, this is somewhere in the teen years. She is a Kumori Mitsukai, a Shadow Angel. He signaled for her to start dancing. But she stood stock-still.

* * *

My rage grew as he spoke of me as if I were some sort of prize to be won. When he gave the signal, I tensed, but did not move. After a few seconds, his face turned beet red.

"Dance BITCH!" he yelled, lashing out at me with a whip. I whipped my head around to glare at him as fresh blood ran down by back. He was furious. His eyes showed his rage and his nostrils were flared. Then, a look crossed his face that I will never forget. It was a look of pure hatred, promising a cruel fate very soon.

"Well, if the bitch won't give a show, we'll just have to give out bidders a sample." He was addressing both the crowd and me. Then he turned to speak solely to the crowd. "Any man who wants a shot with the little bitch can have it. Bidding on her will resume after every man has had his try!"

He dragged me off the stage and into a small room. It was sparsely furnished with a large bed. The whole room was painted red. He took out a separate pair of shackled from under the bed. Then I saw black. When I woke up a few seconds later, my hands were shackled to the bedposts. Ozomashii was standing in the doorway. "She's all yours sir."

In walked a large demon with peach colored skin and black hair. He was very human looking but for the yellow eyes. He began to pull off my thong and then…unimaginable pain as every cell in my body began to shift. I blacked out again for a second. When I woke again, the man had taken a step back. I laughed maliciously as I tore the chains apart and sat up. I ran my tongue across my teeth, tasting the venom dripping from them. Now I was Kumori Mitsukai. Now I was a Shadow Angel. The man was dead in seconds.

* * *

As soon as Ozomashii turned away from the door, he saw chaos. Four boys, whom he knew to be Yusuke Urameshi, Youko Kurama, Hiei of the Jagan, and the human psychic Kuwabara. The next thing he knew, he was in a hallway. He was very confused. Why were there ogres in loincloths running around?

* * *

Ozomashii was disposed of quickly, but before they could open the door to the room where Kotori was, about 200 A class security demons were unleashed upon them.

* * *

I burst out through the door and hovered over the scene before me. I grinned evilly and summoned balls of pure black fire. They would feel my wrath.

* * *

The three (not including Hiei) gaped at the girl that burst through the door. She had long dark purple hair, purple tinted skin, and dark purple eyes. Her teeth were long, sharp, and a purple shade. Venom dripped from the tips of her fangs. She was clothed in a black dress with slits up to her mid thigh. And she had black wings growing from her back.

A black fireball shot past them so quickly that they could hardly see it. A snake demon that had been sneaking up behind them fell down dead. The boys blinked once before turning back to fighting for their lives.

* * *

I saved the detectives. Now they owe me. I have many plans for how I could call in that debt. My eyes suddenly flickered to the corner. Standing back to back, their shackled arms held in attack positions were Tenka and Itetsuku. They were surrounded by a ring of demons. I quickly maneuvered myself on my new wings and grabbed them both by the arm, carrying them to a safe place.

"Stay here." My voice had a deep evil quality to it. It is a voice to chill the hearts of mortal men.

Ten I felled by fire, another seven died by my claws. And for Junsei, for her I reserved the painful demise of my venom. I bit her in the style of the vampires and allowed the poison to slowly destroy her from within. She writhed on the ground at my feet and I enjoyed the feeling of power I had over her. I loved watching the pain tear through her body as she died. I watched as minute by painful minute passed for her, and when she died, she was the last. I burned her body with red fire, not deeming her worthy of my black fire and laid a curse over her soul. I turned to look over the scene. The battle was over. We had won. And I was about to change back. I quickly stripped a demon of his clothes and flitted into the other room. The searing pain came again as I changed from my hellish form into the one that humans do not run from in fear. I slipped on the clothes plain leather clothes before returning to the battlefield.

The sun poured in through a hole in the ceiling, courtesy of Yusuke's reigun. It was over.

* * *

DIMS: And that is chapter seven. This is the longest chapter of DA so far, with over 2,100 words of actual story text, it took up four pages of word. That may be short in comparison to other author's chapters, but it is rather long for me.

Notes:

1: If you didn't read the notes last time, Tenka means fire caused by lightning. He is a rare lightning demon categorized in the amazingly rare group

2: Junsei means perfect

3. Once again, if you didn't read the notes, Itetsuku means to freeze. He is a very rare ice apparition and is also in the amazingly rare category.

4:Okibi means blazing fire

That's all for notes. I hope you enjoy my name choice.

Here's a little fact, I already have the beginning of chapter eight written. It was supposed to be in this chapter, but I like the way I ended so much that I put it into the next chapter. Just a little tidbit.

Mara: Thank you for reading

Kotori: (glares) REVIEW OR DIE

DIMS: and happy Rosh Hashana


	8. Era

DIMS: I'm sorry about the wait. I had some trouble writing this. I need to wait for the random inspiration to write to strike. thankfully, I already had half of the chapter in my head to get me started.

Era: Dims also wants to say that you should all review, because if you don't, she'll set a rabid Kotori on you.

Mara: So we suggest you do at least on of the things listed at the bottom of the page

DISCLAIMER: Own something? Ha! you gotta be kidding me!

DEDICATION!!!!!:Jasmine! Alice! Engraved-Angel! and......InsertManiacLaughterHere! Thanks to you all for reviewing!

* * *

Slaves slowly crept from the shadows, silently at first, then cheering loudly. Dark and light, big and small, young and old, they all greeted us as heroes as they surged towards us. There was soon a huge crowd surrounding us, each slave holding out one pair of limbs or another, waiting eagerly to be freed.

The first one I freed was Lena. She gave me a quick smile before spreading her wings and flying out of the new hole in the ceiling to head to her people's mountain home. Heisui (1), the pale blonde girl, and Kochi (2), the dark featured wolf demon, I freed next. Okibi smiled hugged me quickly—his red, spiky hair bouncing, flakes of dried blood falling on me like snow—before he bounded gracefully from the castle to find his family somewhere in the forested regions of southern Makai.

The crowd slowly diminished and I found myself removing the intricate ward tattoos from Shimaru's arms and legs. He bowed to me, eyes shining with gratitude, before hurrying away. I used what little remained of my Angelic energy to bless him with speed and safety. I knew that this man would need it. Why should he lose his family, a mate and beautiful young son, simply because some idiot decided to attack him?

And then, it was just Tenka, Itetsuku, the detectives, and I. Hiei cut Itetsuku's wards with his katana while Yusuke broke Tenka's. I found myself feeling…sad. Sad, because I knew that I would never see them again.

"Kotori?" I heard Itetsuku's quiet, piercing voice. His chilling blue eyes met mine, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought him able to see my soul. I nodded at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "Tenka and I," he glanced at the younger boy, "have seen enough bloodshed for a lifetime. We request that we be allowed to live peacefully in Spirit world."

I looked to Yusuke. He was, after all, the official detective. He scrutinized them for a second before a broad grin spread over his features. Even with his limited spiritual awareness, he could sense that things would be fun with these two around.

"I guess it's settled then," I said to the newest residents of Spirit World. I turned to face away from the group then. It would not have been good if they had seen my dark purple eyes and maniacal grin.

Koenma, of course, was more than a little annoyed that we had granted citizenship to two demons without permission…

"See here!" the young prince shouted. "You can't just go letting people into Spirit World whenever you want! Gaining citizenship is a long process. You'll have to take them back until their requests are processed and then they'll have to—"

_I growled at him, ending the matter. _

And now I lead the two to a cottage, which Koenma said had used to belong to young girl named Era (3) (This one's really important). She had been a good friend of Yusuke's before she disappeared to find her family somewhere in demon world. Yusuke grew somewhat somber at the mention of her name. From what I could tell, he hadn't heard from her since.

The cottage was a good size and made of stone. There were too bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. The living room had a fireplace and wood was already stacked up against it; probably gathered by the previous inhabitant. There was clean bedding on both beds and books on the shelves. There were even dishes in the cupboard and some of the girl's black clothes left in one of the closets.

I was sitting in a tree somewhere in the mountain ranges of Spirit World. After the two had become accustomed to the place, I had left to let them get truly settled in. My presence would have only caused awkwardness as they acquainted themselves with their new home, so different than their last.

And there had been an aura in that place. It seemed familiar, as though I had felt it once long ago. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had felt it before. A memory assaulted me, though this time, it was not of my sisters. It was a human memory.

Broken and bloody, I walked through the starlit streets. Why did people hate me? They smiled at me from across the street, but the minute I crossed to their side, their smiles turned to glares. Why did they hate me so much? I was only three years old.

_My thoughts turned to my runaway. I was going to leave, maybe find an alley or a nice clearing in the forest to live in. I felt the slight madness I had acquired over my short life set in as I imagined the day when I emerged from my new home to kill all those around me. Blood, fire, destruction, pain…. I shook my head to clear it of thoughts. Now was not the time. _

_And then I felt the girl staring at me. I spun around to the alley I had just passed .It was bathed in darkness that would have rendered the human eye useless. Lying in the shadows was a girl no older than I. She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail, much as I kept mine. The color complemented her brown eyes. Her small body was covered in black cloth. She was short, and the five-foot pole she carried dwarfed her. She looked…familiar. She was staring at me as though trying to remember something and I realized that I was doing the same. Where did I know her? The moon shone brightly as our eyes met._

_And then I heard the loud footsteps of a drunkard stumbling behind me. I gave the girl one last glance before disappearing. I knew she was not human, just as I was not human. And I knew that I should avoid her, just as all others avoided me. _

_And with that, my decision was made. If there were a demon roaming the streets of this city, then I would have to inhabit the woods. _

But why had she looked so familiar? A vague flicker crossed my mind, a flicker of another girl. She had the same brown hair and face of the first girl. But her eyes were lilac, like mine. I tried to grasp it, to hold onto it, but it faded quickly and then was gone.

I looked at the leaves in the trees. They were a light, dead brown now, and quite a few of them had fallen off. I sighed. My birthday was in just a few months. I felt a chill as the cold November sun began to set. Why did I get the feeling that it would not be, as the humans like to sing, a happy birthday?

* * *

(1) Heisui means calm water

(2) Kochi means east wind

(3) can you guess who Era is? That's right, it's my muse. This is a reference to her story, "A New Era" which I am in the process of rewriting. According to my current plan, part of this story will serve to finish Era's story and she will have a part in the story after this chapter. (spoiler if you haven't finished reading) And if you haven't guessed, the girl in the memory was a three year older version of Era.

Era: you finally are puttng me in one of your stories.

DIMS: don't worry, Errs, your story will come up eventually

Era: How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!!!!!!!!

Mara: Until on of them sinks in

DIMS: yeah, listen to Mars, Err.

Mara: (glares) don't push it Dimwit

DIMS: (growls)

Mara: growls

DIMS and Mara fight

Kotori (sighs)(glares) REVIEW OR DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. Merry Christmas!

* * *

Dims: Hi guys! I guess that this chapter could be considered a holiday chapter, but it was really in the plot from the beginning.

Kotori: Thanks so much for reavealing my tragic past oh Dims the mighty

Dims: I felt that it might be cool to tell about that.

Era: When do i come in?

Dims: very much later, so be patient

Mara: And when are you going to update my story

Lin: or mine!

Sahara: and me! You've got me sitting in spirit world jail for like six months now!

Riley: And you still have to publish me.

Dims: I'll update you when I get inspiration. Now be quiet so that I don't get mad. It's bad enough that only 1 person reviewed

Kotori: Go Insert Maniacal Laughing Here!

And that's the dedication

Disclaimer: D you know how much it would cost to buy the rights to YYH?

Claimer: In all seriousness, I do own the Shadow Angel concept, the plot line, and all of my ocs. If I find that anyone has stolen any of these, then there will be severe consequences.

* * *

Time passed and the seasons began to change. December was ending quickly and snow was already on the ground. The detectives had been working on something in the grand hall. I hadn't been allowed in to see what was going on, and I didn't feel like trying to break into their minds. I generally did avoid that kind of thing. I consider it rather rude to look into someone's mind without permission.

So I sat in the window, a sketchpad on my lap. I was drawing the girl from my memory; the demon girl that I had been so wary of so many years ago. It was a black and white drawing, but it had more depth than anything I had ever done with color. It was much like the sketches I had drawn before in this book. It was strange. Since I'd come to Spirit World, I had come to feel more at peace with myself. I rarely drew the gory scenes that had previously infested my mind. Perhaps it was being so close to home that did it. I knew that my family was nearby. Would they remember that my birthday was coming soon?

I sighed as I looked at the completed scene. Two little girls staring at each other, one—me—was bathed in the moonlight on the street. The other was gripped by shadows. The more I looked at her face, the more it reminded me of my own.

I sighed and flipped to the back of the book and began adding choosing where to place the next character in the strange drawing like none I had ever done before.

* * *

Koenma had told us her history and we had accepted it. It was already a few weeks into December when we realized something. Kotori had never had a proper Christmas.

So I asked Botan to open up a portal to human world. We were going to have a party she would never forget. Keiko's house came into view through the snow falling heavily into the street. I hurried inside to get some of her famous ramen.

* * *

I continued to count down the days. It was December 22nd, only 10 days until my Birthday.

* * *

I was pregnant. Pregnant with my precious baby. I didn't care that its father had raped me. I was about 29, still young, but I had a job and I would be able to support us both. The only thing that I worried about was the hospital bill. How would I be able to pay for the time I would stay there when my child was born? I hoped that I would find away.

I smiled down at my swollen belly underneath my warm winter coat. I had gotten it at the homeless center I had been living at.

My thoughts were interrupted by pain, worse than I had ever imagined. I sank to my knees with the pain. A woman from the alley nearby came to my side quickly. She was old, but she looked kind.

"Come here, child. We must get you out of the cold. Now, before your baby dies!"

I followed her wordlessly, wishing for the pain to stop. We had no way of calling for an ambulance. All of the stores were closed. I had been walking home from my job at the flower shop when she had found me. She brought me into a sheltered place. A large number of young men and women looked at me as I came in, crying. They had fashioned a roof of cardboard to protect them from the elements. I couldn't notice any more, it hurt so much.

The next few hours were a blur. She put a cold towel on my forehead and told me to keep breathing steadily. At last, she told me to start to push. I pushed with all my strength and felt the little head coming out of me. I pushed again. Shoulders, arms, and finally legs came out. But everything was going black.

The old woman quickly snipped the cord and tied it up, wrapping my baby in clean cloth. She handed me the bundle and told me it was a girl. I could feel my grip on life beginning to slip as I looked into her eyes. They were the most beautiful lilac I could have ever imagined. I was slipping. I panicked. I had to name my daughter before I left her, had to give her one possession to call her own. My mind skipped around frantically as her eyes stared into mine. She wasn't crying, but she was breathing softly, humming a soft tune. All at once, as though an angel had spoken in my ear, it came to me.

"K-Kotori," I managed to gasp.

She smiled at me softly and began to hum again. For some reason, the others didn't seem to hear it. The old woman was shaking her head sadly to one of her daughters, whispering to her that they would have to get rid of my body so that no one would accuse them of murder. One of the young men went over and told them of my daughter's name. His mother smiled at him sadly and nodded her head.

Then he walked back to me. He moved his head lightly with the tune of Kotori's humming. He could hear it!

Everything went dark as a bright light surrounded him. No one noticed but me. He smiled and touched my forehead lightly with his hand. I exhaled one last time. The next thing I knew, I was floating, and he was floating with me. The young angel took my hand and led me up through the sky. The next thing I knew, I was with my mother, laughing and crying and praying for my baby girl.

* * *

December 24th. Tenka and Itetsuku were happy. It made me happy for some strange reason. I liked seeing Tenka smile and laugh as he got snow in his hair. Itetsuku flung another snowball at him from behind his unnatural wall of snow and there was joy in his eyes. Joy for being free. And I could see that he was happy that Tenka was safe, see his joy when Tenka smiled at him before chucking a snowball.

"Come on, Kotori!" Tenka called to me.

"Yeah! Come and have some fun!" Itetsuku called, his voice loud for once.

And this is the strange part. For the first time, I actually went over and did what I had longed to do since I was very young. I was a kid.

* * *

December 25th

Six days until my birthday. I had woken up long before dawn and was staring at the cold sun. I hummed a soft tune I had known since I was a child. I soothed me and comforted me as I sat there. I was so absorbed in the song that I started when Yusuke burst into the room, grabbed me by the arm, and dragged me into the main hall.

I was amazed by what I saw. There were so many people I had never seen before. Yusuke quickly led me to a cluster of women who were waiting for us with huge smiled on their faces.

"Hey! It's nice to meet you!" said one. She had dark brown hair and eyes. Yusuke introduced her ask Keiko. I quickly learned that the tall one was Shizuru, Kuwabara's sister, the older one was Genkai, a master psychic, and the only demon in the group, and ice demon, was named Yukina. The all said they were glad to meet me and made small talk.

Then, before I knew it, Yusuke had pulled me up to a great big pine tree with hundreds of ornaments hung from its branches.

"Surprise!" He said as I took in the huge thing. He quickly pulled me down to the floor where we sat cross-legged for a moment while everyone came to join the circle.

Then they brought out brightly wrapped boxes from under the tree.

Cries of "Oh, this one's yours," and "Look, here's one of mine," rang through the hall as everyone, except Koenma, who stood to the side, pulled out their presents. Ripping sounds filled the hall as the presents were unwrapped. It was then that I noticed all the boys, Tenka and Itetsuku included, were sitting around me. Even Hiei sat in the window in the wall just behind me. Then they each brought a present from behind their backs.

My eyes widened. No one had ever given me a present before. Yusuke quickly gave me his. "Go on, open it!" He encouraged. Slowly I ripped off the paper. Inside there was a pack of artist's pencils.

"Thank you," I said slowly, stunned.

He grinned widely and then there was another present in my lap.

From Kurama I got a snow globe with a black western dragon in it. From Koenma I got an I-tunes gift card. Itetsuku gave me a never melting ice shard and Tenka gave me a crystal that held his energy. "To light up dark places," he said. Finally came Kuwabara's. I unwrapped the lumpy package to find a small stuffed cat. It was black with green eyes and fur so soft it could have been made from cloud.

I smiled a small smile. My very first Christmas. "Thank you so much everyone."

And then Yusuke did something very unexpected. He hugged me. "Trust me kid," he said as he let me go. "You needed a good Christmas." The day passed with games and food and I actually had fun. When it was finally time to go to bed, I barely had the energy to move. That night, I slept soundly for the first time in years.

* * *

Dims: So that's chapter nine. No notes this time

Era: We hope you've enjoyed this chapter.

All of my oc's/muses: Happy Holidays!


	10. Reporting live from 12AM 1l1l2013

DIMS: Happy New Years!

Mara: This is the tenth and longest chapter of DA. Over 8 pages in word. (4141 Words)

Era: We've recieved a lot of support from our loyal fans

Arriana: Especially Insert Maniacal Laughter Here.

Mia: Who has reviewed almost every chapter of every story.

Emily*: Other supporters of this story have been...

Naoki*: Jasmine

Riley: Alice

Morashino: Engraved Angel

Itetsuku: Mary

Shimaru: Unolai

Sam*: Angelica

Sai*: Fox of the Fallen

Kagai*:TheAngelFromYourNightmares

Shakaku*: Bleeding Darkness Dragon

Amber*: Roses and Lillies

Hagi**: Zena Silverwing

Tenka: And of course, all of DIMS's friends.

DIMS: Thanks, all of you, both reviewers and not, for reading my story. This story has been on the net for over a year now since November 25th of '07 and I've gotten really far on this, an idea that just randomly sprouted in my head, thanks to you guys. It has now become a multi-chapter fic with a possible prequel, sequel, and multiple planned bonus chapters after the end.

Kotori: We would also like to thank Yoshihiro Togashi for creating the springboard that allowed this idea to come to light. We couldn't have come up with it ourselves.

Mia: We hope you enjoy this milestone chapter and continue to support us through the rest of the story.

DIMS: The names with *'s in front are my unpublished OCs. The name Hagi with the ** after it I borrowed from Blood + because he is Zena's fav character. With your support, my unpublisheds might someday become published OCs. If you are reading this a year or more after this chapter has been published, they may already be published, so go check out my profile!

Kotori: Begin

* * *

December 26th

December 27th

December 28th

December 29th

December 30th

December 31st…….Only a few hours remained until my thirteenth birthday. Thirteen. It is the age considered by many when a child begins to become an adult. Little did I know that it would do almost the opposite for me. All I knew was that there was a strange feeling in my gut. If I had ever learned anything from watching TV in department store windows, it was from Gibbs on the American TV show NCIS(1). Always listen to your gut.

Christmas had been the best day of my life. I had actually felt joy for one of the first times of my life. I had had fun; I had actually connected with other people. But the high wore off over the next few days until now. The gang had invited me to be there with them while they counted down the time to the New Year.

But I said no. I knew that tonight I was meant to be alone. And so there I sat, sitting once again at the edge of hell. A small part of my mind that had begun to grow since my arrival in Spirit World told me that maybe I should be worrying about my sanity. I growled. I didn't like listening to that little voice.

The voices of hell chorused a strange tune. The screams of the damned sounded different today, more tortured than usual. Why?

Something flashed in front of my eyes so quickly that I almost didn't comprehend it. Almost. It was a boy. He had jet-black hair, short and spiky. His eyes were a deep blue and his skin a pale white. But he was smiling, and in that smile, I could see the tips of his teeth were sharp and there was a certain fire in his eyes that reminded me of me. He was about my age in the memory, though I intuitively knew that he could change the age that he appeared to be at will. And then it was gone once again. I sighed.

Another flash assaulted me before I could blink.

_I was in somewhere white. It was that boy again. We were playing in the snow. Tag. And then a voice called to me. Male. It was deep and powerful. I turned to look at whoever it was, but his figure blurred in my memory. I could feel my younger self smile and say something, but that too was fuzzy. The boy smiled at me and then, quick as lightning, threw a snowball at me. I could feel myself smile evilly at the boy before smashing snow into his spiky black hair._

The heat of hell was the next thing I felt as I finally snapped out of it.

* * *

This morning was passing so slowly. The sun had only moved a few inches. I was tempted to go visit heaven and scare some of the ferry girls as they delivered the charges. I could imagine their screams as I came, screaming hellishly with flames in covering my entire body. I cackled evilly in my mind and I almost left to go to the gate right then and there

I stood up and snapped out of it. I could feel two energies approaching me. Yusuke's and Kurama's to be precise. I sighed as I looked into their heads. I know I said it was rude, but it doesn't count when people are chasing and/or stalking you.

'_Hah! I can feel her energy nearby! We're gonna get her this time.'_ That was Yusuke no doubt.

'_I agree with Yusuke. We need to give her as much of a family experience as we can if we want her to be comfortable around us. I sincerely hope that she will agree to join us in celebrating this New Year.'_ That was the Voice of Reason, the name I had given to Kurama's mental voice.

I chuckled in my mind. No one, not even Koenma knew that my birthday was today, or he would have told them. And I didn't want to be near anyone, not today. And so I used what little Angelic energy I could access to disappear into the mountains. The last thing I heard was Yusuke cursing that I had disappeared. Again.

* * *

The cold air of the mountains bit at my fingers and nose. I had not bundled up at all this winter—I didn't really need to when my element was fire—but the atmosphere was so thin here that it penetrated my defenses.

Snow was falling so thickly that I could barely see my hand in from of my face. I stumbled into a small cave and sat down. The stone was cool and smooth beneath me as I slipped into a meditative state, allowing the darkness to smother my senses.

* * *

_I was about ten years old and I had fallen about 150 feet from one of the roofs. I had broken a leg. Sure the height would have killed a human. But if you haven't guessed, I'm not exactly human. Even more unfortunately for me I was in an unused area of the palace. I could be stuck there for days before the leg healed, and even then it might go crooked. I shuddered at the thought of having a bone re-broken…again._

_Then a girl appeared by my side in a flash of black lightning. I recognized her as the girl from one of my memories. The one with the brown hair and the lilac eyes. She looked about eleven or twelve._

"_Kotori, how many times do I have to tell you, use your wings!"_

_I grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head "Sorry_____" the name was fuzzed out. _

"_Don't apologize to me, squirt. Apologize to Mom. She was watching you this time and she freaked out when she saw you fall."_

"_It's not my fault," I whined. "You know my wings are messed up!" I spread them carefully. It was true. One of my wings was crooked._

"_And it won't be so once you reach maturity in the human realm. Once you access your true powers, your wings will right themselves." I groaned as I felt the familiar lecture coming on._

_She rolled her eyes at me. "Besides, it is your fault. You know that only experienced flyers are supposed to go up that high." _

_I used a very simple technique. The Shadow Angel Death Glare of Doom, or so I had called it. She rolled her eyes once more before picking me up very gently in her arms—she could tell that underneath it all I was scared—and spread her perfect bat-like wings. They were the wings of immaturity, but at least she could fly straight._

* * *

_I was twelve and running away from home. The sister just one generation above me was leaving, the same girl who had rescued me when I had broken my leg. I spread my wings. Still crooked. I looked once over my shoulder, glared, and jumped off the cliff. _

_I almost instantaneously knew that I was an idiot. The next thing I knew, the black haired boy I had once played tag with had caught me. Next I was on the cliff again._

_He was looking at me, half amused, half annoyed._

_And then I felt the strong slap to the back of my head._

"_Yow!" I cried as I put my hands over the offended area. "What was that for!"_

"_Being an idiot," he replied. He was taller than me, having taken the form of a fifteen-year-old. All the better for lecturing stupid little me.  
_

"_Who are you to call me an idiot!" I shouted at him, enraged. "You're not the one who has to watch your sisters leave for a hundred years at a time. You don't have to know that when it's your turn, you won't even remember them for the first thirteen years of your life, knowing that you'll have to live life as a human! I'm not proud of it! I don't want to be a part of it!"_

_The next thing I knew he was holding me to his chest and I was crying. He rubbed my back soothingly. "Shh, shh. It's gonna be okay."_

* * *

"_Kotori!!" a small voice shouted at me. I looked behind me and saw a young girl with short, unkempt bloody hair and lilac eyes. _

_I knelt down to her level as she came up behind me. She was about 8 in appearance and two generations below me, meaning there would be one other after me before she had to go to the human world._

"_What's wrong Asha(2)?" I said soothingly. She looked like she had been crying for a long time. I committed the name to memory immediately. Other than Koneko, it was the only name that my memories had revealed._

"_Why do you have to go! Why can't you stay here with me!"_

_I sighed as I remember how ________ had felt. Even in my thoughts, the name had been blurred out, though I could tell I was referring to the white haired sister in the very first memory I had gotten._

"_Asha, it is our duty to the world. Without us, the whole world would fall apart and there wouldn't be anything left. Someday you will understand."_

"_I don't wanna understand! I wan you to stay with me!" she cried in her young voice. Her face was a mask of juvenile anger and disappointment. _

_I mentally checked the time. If I didn't merge my soul with the baby soon, it would be too late. And so I did the thing that would change my soul permanently._

_I looked at her coldly, glaring even. "Has it ever occurred to you that I don't want to stay around you, you little brat?" _

_She stared at me open mouthed. I forced myself to walk away from her. But what shocked me the most was that saying such a horrible thing to my baby sister barely hurt at all._

* * *

11:55

11:57

11:59

Midnight

Pain coursed through my body. I screamed and screamed as one final memory coursed through me.

_I stepped through the heavenly white portal. I felt myself merge with my small new body. My "mother" began to scream and was soon crippled with the pain as my body said it was ready to be born. From the energy around her, I could tell that the small unit of Angels(3) and Demons—true Hell demons(4), I mean—had found her._

_It was only a few hours longer that I was in there. After what seemed like forever I finally I came out and hit the cold air. My mother was dying. I could feel the life force slipping out of her and being absorbed into my new body. I hummed a tune of dying to her and told her my name. She would think it was her own idea._

_I smiled as she said it. I would do my best to allow her to die in comfort. It wasn't her fault she had to bear me. I hummed. Her grip on life faded. The black haired boy whom I had seen in the other memories—I suddenly remembered that he was called Aleksei(5)—took her soul. I said my goodbye to him. I would not see him again for at least thirteen years._

_The old woman picked me up. Her human skin fell away to reveal a small black haired girl with piercing unhealthy pale skin and red eyes, quite different from Hiei's in that they didn't hold hate or anger, but a strange childish evil as well as a strange love for me that I didn't understand at the moment. The other young men and women also changed to reveal a small group of young Demon and Angel Children._

_I looked around in wonder. These people were all glowing! Why were they glowing? And why was the strange scary red-eyed girl holding me again? My memories began to fade; my human mind damming up what it felt would traumatize me. I soon fell asleep. When I woke up I would be in a dumpster. I would be found by another alley woman. And I would have lost my memory._

I felt my human body die. It was no longer needed. I had finally caught up to the age that my soul had been when I had been put into my human body. It burned away, pain searing through my consciousness. And yet, I knew that the transformation that had been almost impossible in my physical body could be done at will and—I gasped. Those memories that my human brain had kept at bay flooded my mind. It was as though I had never forgotten.

Finally, the pain receded and I could tell that there were two powerful energy signals in the cave with me. My eyes were even sharper now. Though my human body and mind had been advanced, it was nothing compared to this. I looked at myself. I looked exactly as I had before. The only difference was the tattoo of a dragon that wrapped itself around my torso and up my neck, starting under my left ear and ending at my right ankle. I turned to my mother and my mother and grandfather and bowed.

"It's good to be back," I said, reveling in the fact that my voice was as it should be. Powerful and strong.

"It's good to have you," said my mother. She was beautiful Her skin was milk and her eyes were deep obsidian. Her hair was the color or caramel and it fell around her shoulders in a waterfall. Two wings with dark feathers protruded from her back.

Which reminded me. I flexed my wings out of my back and stared. There they were, two perfectly straight, feathery adult wings. They were the color of coal.

"You've grown, little one," said my grandfather.

He was handsome and young looking, maybe seventeen. His eyes were red, different than both Hiei's and the Demon Girl. They were closer to burgundy and they didn't have the fire that the other two sets of eyes had. All that was in those eyes was an eternity of wisdom. His short red spiky hair contrasted with his pale skin. Two straight horns grew from his head and bent so that they curled, following the curves of his skull. They were black and had swirls of red and silver in them. His clothes were black, and my mother's were white.

"We've left some of your things near the entrance of the cave, Kotori. Don't fail us." My mother said this quietly, staring into my eyes. The depth of her gaze almost me want to flinch. She disappeared in a dark, cold wind.

My grandfather looked at me with kinder eyes. I knew that my mother cared. It was tradition for her to remind the Angel of duty, while Keishin(6), my grandfather gave encouragement.

"_Malachi(7)_," he said. And then a broad grin appeared on his face. "You will do wonderfully."

"I won't disappoint you," I said, looking him in the eye.

"I know you won't," was all he said before he too disappeared.

I slowly walked towards the entrance to the cave. There, I found a set of black clothes not unlike my own. The only difference was that these allowed for both the extension of my wings and the transformation into my more powerful form. They were also much sturdier than the clothes Koenma had given me. They were simple: a pair of black cotton pants and a light yet sturdy tunic. Along with these there was a black leather vest, a pair of black leather shoes, a black leather pack, and a pair of leather gloves. Wrapped in the cloth of my black cloak was a sword and dagger, both with a silver dragon wrapping around the hilt with crystals of blood in place of the eyes. Finally there was a necklace. It was the body and head of an Asian style dragon mounted on a dragon's claw. Held within the four-toed claw as a red orb of crystallized Hell Fire. I quickly pulled it over my neck on its simple black cord. It was my family crest.

I looked outside of the cave. Snow was still coming down in torrents and the wind shrieked. I followed my elders' example and disappeared in a whirl of black fire.

I arrived in my room only minutes later. As I was hiding all of my new—or should I say old—belongings, I caught my own eye in the mirror. I stopped to look more carefully. My eyes had turned the dark purple of maturity, the color that they had been flickering to on and off for the past two months. I grinned wickedly, my now permanent fangs gleaming in the light. Now I could begin to do my job correctly. The earth was at a bit too much peace. It had been a whole four years since the War on Terror had ended(8). Time to shake things up.

As I thought of all of the things I could do with my new maturity, a ridiculous line from an old pull-ups commercial ran through my head. I almost laughed aloud at it. "'Cause I'm a big girl now!" Yes, I was a big girl now. And I wouldn't be getting much bigger.

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday Kotori, happy birthday to me. Heheheh.

* * *

Dims: Yeah, Kotori is kinda going a bit nutso again at the end. All of that progress with the Spirit Detectives lost. Or is it? Found out next time on DA! (Notes are after this brief plea for help)

Riley: Hi, I'm new here. I'm going to be in the story "The Chronicles of Riley McKliney", also possibly called "Time to Shine" If you have any title suggestions, please PM them to…

Dims: Me!

Mara: And here are your notes:

1:Okay, NCIS, best TV show ever. Deals with naval crimes. The main characters are: DiNozzo, Mcgee, Abby, Ducky, Kate (dead), Ziva (Kate's replacement) and Gibbs the awesome ex-marine with two or three ex wives.

2: Asha is a female Sanskrit name with the meaning, "Wish, hope, desire" I thought it was pretty and the first two meanings are really cute for this character.

3:Angels are different than Shadow Angels. Angels are liked the people in floaty white robes with wings and halos and stuff (just no halos). They are the children of heaven, not dead human souls who were awesome or anything. They generally take a form relative to their age, though they all prefer young forms. These angels are children, only about 300 years old

4:Hell Demons are the real demons that are the minions of the Devil. Like the Angels they are the children of Hell. They also prefer younger forms. These are also young, at the age of 300 years. This unit is sent out to the human word to keep these kinds of things running smoothly, like how Botan helps the death system run smoothly.

5:Aleksei, also spelled Alexi, is a name I stole from the young son of Czar Nicholas the 2nd. I prefer the spelling with the ks, so I used that one.

6:Keishin is a Japanese name meaning "wise truth, wise mind, wise command, growing wisdom" I decided I wanted to give the Devil my own name. So there.

8A: Malachi is a male Hebrew name meaning "My angel." He calls her that because he loves her and she is a Shadow **ANGEL.**

8B: Pronunciation. The "ch" is pronounced like in the word Loch (which is not pronounced Lock). It is the Hebrew pronunciation. English doesn't have a letter for it, so transliteration (putting a language into the letters of another language) gave it the letters ch. If you have trouble thinking/pronouncing it, pronounce the ch "hee". The "ch" sound is made at the back of the throat.

9:I decided to have the war over to give Kotori an excuse to make something bad happen because that fits her young immature personality better than doing good. This takes place in 2013, though the tech will be about the same level as today, maybe a smaller i-pod size or something, because I'm not thinking that there will be a huge tech jump in the next 4 years. This also means that the war on terror in my story ended somewhere in the beginning of 2009.

Era:…That was a lot of notes…

DIMS: There was a lot to explain!

Kotori: (glares) If you don't review this I'll eat you.

Dims: And on that happy note, Happy New Years!

My Unpublished OC's: Please donate to the DIMS Unpublished OC's Fund. Donations are simple and take only a little of your time. To donate, please press the review button now (give readers puppy dog eyes of doom.)

Dims: muwahahahahaha! Puppy eyes of doom!

~owari


	11. The Tale of Three

DIMS:Wow...It's been almost a year since I updated this. Ouch. I am soooooo sorry!. I hope that I will be forgiven. Sorry it's short, but this is what popped into my head and it seemed to be the place my inspiration wanted me to stop. Now though, it's back and I hope to update a lot more int he near future. Not that many people read this but...

My Official Excuses: School (summer school too, because I had a bad teacher in Algebra 1, which I need to understand it for Algebra II) lack of inspiration. Small turnout at last chapter....The fact that I seem to write better when I'm depressed and I've been quite happy as of late.

Please enjoy...

* * *

**The Tale of Three**

Kotori's first instinct was to massacre a city or two, but with her memories, her senses of duty and reason had also been unlocked. The world was already starting to tip towards the Darkness. For the sake of The Balance, she couldn't just do whatever she felt like. So she banished her insanity with some difficulty and pondered what she ought to do.

She couldn't very well leave. Koenma would send the idiotic spirit detectives after her. She knew she would be able to defeat them, but it wasn't something she particularly felt like doing. So that was struck from the list. That left staying in Spirit World, which was perfectly fine with her. She could train and manipulate the human world to some degree from here any way. Plus, she could stay with Itetsuku and Tenka. She rebuked herself for this last thought. This was not the time to become attached. Nor would there ever be a time. She was a Shadow Angel, and they only befriend those of the fold.

That wasn't exactly true, she realized. Her sister had been married just a year or so before Kotori had left home. She had had a baby girl, but the child had been kidnapped just months before Kotori's departure. Every Angel in the palace had searched in vain for the child, even Mother, had put every resource at her command to find her. But it was no use; the Angels couldn't track her because she was half demon, and the demons could not find the trail because she was half Shadow Angel.

Kotori balled her fists. She had sworn to find Jishin's child if it cost her her very last breath. That was one more thing to add to the list.

She rose and prepared herself to train.

She wore a pair of black fighting pants tied at the waist with a red cloth belt. The baggy cuffs were secured and bound at her ankles with a wrap of bandages that wound under the arch of her foot and around her ankle. Her fists were bare, as were her feet. Rather than a conventional shirt, she had bandages wrapped from her waist to her chest. They dipped lower in the back to allow her shoulders freedom of movement.

She opened the window and stared into the land below before closing her eyes. Her ebony wings sprouted soundlessly from her back as she knelt on the window ledge. Her eyes open once more, a cold purple that chilled the air about her, she took off into the foggy night sky. The dawn rose coldly on the two, death black feathers left on the floor.

* * *

Silence, she mused, was like the fingers of death, clawing away wherever there was no life; or perhaps it was the other way around?

Soft footfalls were muffled in the fog. At first glance it was a normal enough marsh. At least, it would seem that way if you were deaf. Anyone who was at all observant could tell that it was silent, not a single living thing to make the slightest rustle. Her thoughts turned to whether that was true or not; the answer depended on whether she could count herself among the living. She was, after all, a spirit, a direct descendant of the Divine Originals, completely immortal.

It was, she decided, like darkness and light. Darkness is the absence of light; is death not also merely the absence of life? Without darkness there could be no light as all would be light and we would be unable to distinguish it from anything else, as there would be nothing to distinguish it from. Without death existence could not truly be called life.

Having made that distinction, she continued with the step she had started with the beginning of the thought, less than half a second earlier. She wasn't sure if the world-let existed and she traveled to it or if it was merely in her mind, but it had always been so: a dark, cold, misty world, a plane in which sound was perpetually extinguished.

A dark gray cloak billowed out behind her like waves, and if there had been another sentient being, it would have noted that her ankle length dress was a pure white and her boots beneath were a grayish brown.

She stopped in front of the cold arch of stone that rose from the ground and knelt next to the small pool of water; her necklace with the family crest bouncing against her chest in the process. The spring was perfectly still, like everything else in this dead world. She pondered the face staring back at her from the smooth surface.

It was a perfect face: smooth, pale skin with just the right amount of rosy undertones, a graceful nose and full lips. Her hair was the color of butter and hung down around her round face in perfect ringlets. She would put an Angel to shame.

The most exquisite part about her, however, was her eyes. Emerald green eyes glinted like the gem. They were the kind of eyes that could, at one instant, make you feel as though you were as innocent as a newborn and the next as though you were the worst piece of scum in the history of the world. The flawless green orbs reflected in the pool as it fogged over. Cloudy images began to form on the surface. She smiled, and sharp, deadly teeth shining through the mist and spread her pure white wings. It had begun.

* * *

The boy sat on the wooden floor in his room. His eyes were closed as he meditated in the small, bare space. It was a small, square place with walls draped in shadows and a low ceiling. It was what his sister called a "safe room". She had always preferred quiet, closed in spaces, though she was almost equally at home in the open mountains or on the sea.

His lips twisted into a smile as he thought of her, and searched harder in his meditations to find her, falling into a state so deep his body was a mere shell. He missed her so much, but it was almost time. Soon they would be reunited. The candlelight flickered and shed a comforting if feeble warmth on his skin. There was no furniture but for the mat he upon which he sat and the candles at his sides.

He was a sturdy young man with a round face and unruly dark hair. Muscular and unusually tan for his family, he wore a black fighting pants and a black sleeveless shirt. A necklace hung about his neck that shone silver in the firelight.

Suddenly, he pulled himself from his self-induced trance and grinned. His eyes shone a wicked blue in the darkness. He had seen his sister. It was time. The battle had begun.

* * *

_The three that are one, the one that is all_

_The higher you go, the farther you fall._

_The three that are all, the all that is one_

_The story of three has now begun._

* * *

DIMS: Yes, I wrote the poem! It's not that great, I know, but I wrote it when I was loopy from a mixture of lack of sleep (the two nights before I had not slept more than two hours a piece) and cough medicine plus my ADHD meds wearing off...though I usually write better under the second case. Anyway, it was originally much longer with symbols like ravens and doves and dogs and moons and wonderful stuff like that, but I managed to fall asleep in the middle and only remembered this. Now...

Sera (my adorable new Death Note OC): Pwease Weview!!!!! (puppy dog eyes)

Era: I think you're over doing it, Sera.

Arrianna: Yeah. Kotori, show her how it's done.

Kotori: (clears throat) (takes deep breath) REVIEW OR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


End file.
